Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic and Environmental Transmission of Body Mass Index Fluctuation

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Behavior Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study sought to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) fluctuation and cardiovascular disease phenotypes, diabetes, and depression and the role of genetic and environmental factors in individual differences in BMI fluctuation using the extended twin-family model (ETFM). This study included 14,763 twins and their relatives. Health and Lifestyle Questionnaires were obtained from 28,492 individuals from the Virginia 30,000 dataset including twins, parents, siblings, spouses, and children of twins. Self-report cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression data were available. From self-reported height and weight, BMI fluctuation was calculated as the difference between highest and lowest BMI after age 18, for individuals 18–80 years. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between BMI fluctuation and disease status. The ETFM was used to estimate the significance and contribution of genetic and environmental factors, cultural transmission, and assortative mating components to BMI fluctuation, while controlling for age. We tested sex differences in additive and dominant genetic effects, parental, non-parental, twin, and unique environmental effects. BMI fluctuation was highly associated with disease status, independent of BMI. Genetic effects accounted for ~34 % of variance in BMI fluctuation in males and ~43 % of variance in females. The majority of the variance was accounted for by environmental factors, about a third of which were shared among twins. Assortative mating, and cultural transmission accounted for only a small proportion of variance in this phenotype. Since there are substantial health risks associated with BMI fluctuation and environmental components of BMI fluctuation account for over 60 % of variance in males and over 50 % of variance in females, environmental risk factors may be appropriate targets to reduce BMI fluctuation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison DB, Kaprio J, Korkeila M, Koskenvuo M, Neale MC, Hayakawa K (1996) The heritability of body mass index among an international sample of monozygotic twins reared apart. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 20(6):501–506

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blair SN, Shaten J, Brownell K, Collins G, Lissner L (1993) Body weight change, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Ann Intern Med 119(7 Pt 2):749–757

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boker S, Neale MC, Maes HH, Wilde M, Spiegel M, Brick T, Spies J, Estabrook R, Kenny S, Bates T, Mehta P, Fox J (2011) OpenMx: an open source extended structural equation modeling framework. Psychometrika 76(2):306–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz VA, Mainous AG III, Everett CJ (2005) The association between weight fluctuation and mortality: results from a population-based cohort study. J Community Health 30(3):153–165

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Eysenck HJ, Martin NG (1989) Genes, culture and personality: am empirical approach. Oxford University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Field AE, Coakley EH, Must A, Spadano JL, Laird N, Dietz WH, Rimm E, Colditz GA (2001) Impact of overweight on the risk of developing common chronic diseases during a 10-year period. Arch Intern Med 161(13):1581–1586

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein EA, DiBonaventura M, Burgess SM, Hale BC (2010) The costs of obesity in the workplace. J Occup Environ Med 52(10):971–976

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine KR, Redden DT, Wang C, Westfall AO, Allison DB (2003) Years of life lost due to obesity. JAMA 289(2):187–193

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman DM, Ron E, Ballard-Barbash R, Doody MM, Linet MS (2006) Body mass index and all-cause mortality in a nationwide US cohort. Int J Obes (Lond) 30(5):822–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffery RW, Drewnowski A, Epstein LH, Stunkard AJ, Wilson GT, Wing RR, Hill DR (2000) Long-term maintenance of weight loss: current status. Health Psychol 19(1 Suppl):5–16

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keller MC, Medland SE, Duncan LE, Hatemi PK, Neale MC, Maes HH, Eaves LJ (2009) Modeling extended twin family data I: description of the Cascade model. Twin Res Hum Genet 12(1):8–18

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee IM, Paffenbarger RS Jr (1992) Change in body weight and longevity. JAMA 268(15):2045–2049

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lightwood J, Bibbins-Domingo K, Coxson P, Wang YC, Williams L, Goldman L (2009) Forecasting the future economic burden of current adolescent overweight: an estimate of the coronary heart disease policy model. Am J Public Health 99(12):2230–2237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lissner L, Odell PM, D’Agostino RB, Stokes J III, Kreger BE, Belanger AJ, Brownell KD (1991) Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the Framingham population. N Engl J Med 324(26):1839–1844

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maes HH, Neale MC, Eaves LJ (1997) Genetic and environmental factors in relative body weight and human adiposity. Behav Genet 27(4):325–351

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maes HH, Neale MC, Kendler KS, Martin NG, Heath AC, Eaves LJ (2006) Genetic and cultural transmission of smoking initiation: an extended twin kinship model. Behav Genet 36(6):795–808

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maes HH, Neale MC, Medland SE, Keller MC, Martin NG, Heath AC, Eaves LJ (2009) Flexible Mx specification of various extended twin kinship designs. Twin Res Hum Genet 12(1):26–34

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neale M, Cardon L (1992) Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Kluwer Academic Publishers B.V., Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Neale M, Maes H (1998) Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Kluwer Academic Publishers B.V., Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Neovius M, Sundstrom J, Rasmussen F (2009) Combined effects of overweight and smoking in late adolescence on subsequent mortality: nationwide cohort study. BMJ 338:b496

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2010) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. In: R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna, Austria

  • Reis JP, Macera CA, Araneta MR, Lindsay SP, Marshall SJ, Wingard DL (2009) Comparison of overall obesity and body fat distribution in predicting risk of mortality. Obesity (Silver Spring) 17(6):1232–1239

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc (2004) SAS/STAT® Software: Version 9. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwimmer JB, Burwinkle TM, Varni JW (2003) Health-related quality of life of severely obese children and adolescents. JAMA 289(14):1813–1819

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seidell JC, Hautvast JG, Deurenberg P (1989) Overweight: fat distribution and health risks. Epidemiological observations. A review. Infusionstherapie 16(6):276–281

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stunkard AJ, Foch TT, Hrubec Z (1986) A twin study of human obesity. JAMA 256(1):51–54

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Truett K, Eaves L, Walters E, Heath A, Hewitt J, Meyer J, Silberg J, Neale M, Martin N, Kendler K (1994) A model system for analysis of family resemblance in extended kinships of twins. Behav Genet 24:35–49

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock G, Lewington S, Sherliker P, Clarke R, Emberson J, Halsey J, Qizilbash N, Collins R, Peto R (2009) Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies. Lancet 373(9669):1083–1096

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wing RR, Phelan S (2005) Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr 82(1 Suppl):222S–225S

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yarnell JW, Patterson CC, Thomas HF, Sweetnam PM (2000) Comparison of weight in middle age, weight at 18 years, and weight change between, in predicting subsequent 14 year mortality and coronary events: Caerphilly Prospective Study. J Epidemiol Community Health 54(5):344–348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Tamakoshi K, Yatsuya H, Murata C, Wada K, Otsuka R, Nagasawa N, Ishikawa M, Sugiura K, Matsushita K, Hori Y, Kondo T, Toyoshima H (2005) Long-term body weight fluctuation is associated with metabolic syndrome independent of current body mass index among Japanese men. Circ J 69(1):13–18

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Dr. Bergin was supported by T32MH20030 (PI: Michael C. Neale) and 5R37DA018673 (PI: Michael C. Neale). Data collection and model development was supported by Grants GM-30250, AG-04954, AA-06781, MH-40828, and HL-48148 from the National Institutes of Health and a gift from RJR Nabisco. We would like to thank all the participants who made this research possible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, MCV, P.O. Box 980126, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Jocilyn E. Bergin, Michael C. Neale, Lindon J. Eaves & Hermine H. Maes

  2. Queensland Institute of Medical Research and Joint Genetics Program, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Nicholas G. Martin

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Andrew C. Heath

Authors
  1. Jocilyn E. Bergin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael C. Neale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lindon J. Eaves
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nicholas G. Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andrew C. Heath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hermine H. Maes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jocilyn E. Bergin.

Additional information

Edited by David Allison.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bergin, J.E., Neale, M.C., Eaves, L.J. et al. Genetic and Environmental Transmission of Body Mass Index Fluctuation. Behav Genet 42, 867–874 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-012-9567-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-012-9567-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation